Nevermoor series author Jessica Townsend on crafting diverse characters, comparisons to JK Rowling

The first book in the Nevermoor series, The Trials of Morrigan Crow — published by Hachette in 2017 — made its author Jessica Townsend one of the most sought after novelists of the decade. The Australian author was lauded for bringing into existence a character which was seen as the next Harry Potter in Young adult literature. Narrating the story of a “strange little girl with black eyes”, it was a remarkable account of a cursed girl who must participate in a series of trials to gain admittance into a magical society and school. As the second book of the series, The Calling of Morrigan Crow released to rave reviews, Firstpost interviewed the author over email. Townsend told us about comparisons to JK Rowling, her attempt to create diverse characters and why young girls in 2019 need different role models. I will start by getting the obvious out of the way. How do you deal with comparisons with JK Rowling and the Potter series? Right from the magical world you have created, to the school, its theme of a young student (without friends, and a family which dislike her) is similar to the Potter series. Were you apprehensive of the comparison? As a huge JK Rowling fan, I think the comparison is extremely flattering. I love JK Rowling and I grew up reading Harry Potter. Along with all the other books and films I’ve loved over the years, it has almost certainly had an influence on the kinds of stories I gravitate towards. However, Nevermoor is entirely its own story. I think the elements you mention – the fact that there’s a school, a child who is unloved, and a secret magical world that child discovers – are fairly typical fare in children’s fantasy, and have been staples of the genre for many ages. They are proven plot devices, and a useful way to introduce readers to a wholly new world, by offering familiar genre elements as a way into the story. It’s the execution of those elements that makes a story. [caption id=“attachment_5896661” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Hachette) by Jessica Townsend[/caption] You have spent a lot of time prior to the writing of the book, creating the characters and the setting of the novel (like when you said the Wunderground was inspired by the London Underground subway system)… could you give us glimpses of your creative process? My creative process sits somewhere in the middle of haphazard and meticulous! Much of what I’m writing in the books right now has been planned meticulously over many years, but then quite a lot of it is also made up on the fly. I like to write long, rambling documents that go on for many thousands of words and describe things I think should happen and how I think the world of Nevermoor should work. But then sometimes I decide to get painstakingly precise about things, and I start whipping up spreadsheets all over the place. I’m not particularly consistent in the way I work, but I have mountains and mountains of information about this world, written over the course of 15 years. Digging into these files while I’m writing sometimes feels like playing in a sandpit. I found the names in the books the real stalwarts… Wunder, Wunderground, Wundersmith, Magnificat… simple terms yet with such potent meaning. How difficult/easy is it for an author to come up with these labels which summarize everything in a word? I have always loved names and wordplay, so most of the time I feel like this is the easiest and most enjoyable part of the process. When I was a kid I would write lists of names that I loved, and I also took real joy in learning obscure, interesting words and their meanings. I’ve always been a bit of a language collector. I feel like the names of people and objects and concepts are so important that if I don’t quite have them right, it is difficult to get that character or concept to feel right on the page. Cadence Blackburn, for example, took a while to name, and it wasn’t until I had the name Cadence Blackburn that I started to properly hear her voice and nail down who she was as a person. Morrigan Crow isn’t your regular heroine… she is feared/disliked by her own family and she thinks (until the end of the first book) that she does not have any special power to gain acceptance into a magical school… is she a new age idol for young girls at a time they need newer role models and ideals? I think what makes Morrigan an interesting character for kids to read about, and what I suppose makes her slightly atypical in her genre, is that she is a child who’s deeply unsure about most things – her own motivations and place in the world, for starters. She worries. She’s sometimes cynical. She’s sometimes anxious. She feels guilt even for things that she knows couldn’t possibly be her fault. Despite all of this, she is kind and compassionate, and she’s courageous even when she’s terrified. She experiences new and frightening things the way most children (and grown-ups!) would experience them – with equal uncertainty and determination. I think it’s important for kids to see their own feelings reflected in the heroes they read about, and to know that it’s okay not to feel like the bravest, smartest, most talented, most confident kid in town. The idea of a chosen one pitted against a dark force is an age-old plot. Yet it works wonderfully well in your books… do you think it’s all about how you package the story? Everything is about execution. I don’t actually think of Nevermoor as a “chosen one” story – if anything, it’s kind of the opposite. I think it’s fun to take age-old plot devices and subvert them, giving the reader a different experience of a familiar story element. [caption id=“attachment_5896691” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Jessica Townsend. Image courtesy of Jessica Townsend[/caption] The scope of the series is huge… and you plan it to be a nine-book series. From speaking animals to technologically driven trains, how difficult is it to tie all ends when you take up such a mammoth undertaking? There is an awful lot of world in these books, and a lot of plot. It can be difficult to keep track of everything, but it is enormously satisfying when disparate threads come together – sometimes in unexpected ways. Those moments when I’m writing and I realise that an idea I wrote many years ago somehow slots in perfectly with an entirely new and unrelated part of the story – those are the most thrilling and joyful moments in writing a long series. Nevermoor was acclaimed as a classic the minute it was out. How difficult is it to keep your focus from wavering under such adulation? Does the acclaim add to the pressure to deliver? I think I’m pretty good at compartmentalising the different bits of my life, and in my head the actual work of writing these books is entirely separate to the public reception of them. That can be difficult to maintain, though, and sometimes the outside noise creeps into the writing room and sits on my shoulders. But I try to shake it off. At the end of the day, I started writing these books purely for my own enjoyment – I do everything I can to remind myself that this is meant to be fun, and sometimes that means pretending that I’m still writing for an audience of one. The books don’t shy away from dealing with death and other dark themes; is this your way of educating young children? That it’s okay to introduce kids to these things at an early age? I think it’s both useful and important to have frightening things in children’s books. It’s useful from a plot perspective, because we need to create a world in which our characters face up to their challenges by digging deep and having courage. And it’s important because the real world is also a scary place. Allowing children to confront the things that frighten them in a safe, fictional context – and to see their literary heroes responding to scary situations with bravery and compassion – is, I think, a good thing. There is a lot of pressure in today’s time for characters/stories to be diverse and inclusive. (even the Potter series faced this) What do you make of it and did you think of these aspects while writing? Yes, it’s something that I’m conscious of when I’m writing, and something I try very hard to get right. We all consume so much content every day, and it’s important to all of us – children and grown-ups – that we see ourselves in the books we read and the films and TV shows we watch. Every child, everywhere, should get to have that experience. It’s 2019, and we need to do better. Representation matters. Finally, what do you have to say to admirers fans in India? Any plans of visiting? Thank you so much for embracing Morrigan Crow the way you have! I’m utterly thrilled to have readers in India, and so grateful for your support. It is a big dream of mine to visit your amazing country someday. Hopefully soon!